Damon, in partnership with Stella Artois (yes… that Stella) have formed a global initiative to drive awareness of the water shortage, not only on our shores, but worldwide.
“A glass of water, it’s one of the simplest things to some of but for many it’s one of the most complicated” says Damon in an ad promoting the partnership.
The water shortage crisis has been a worldwide struggle for millions, although the effects are currently being felt on a large scale in Australia, with 100 per cent of NSW declared drought-stricken last week.
As part of the campaign, Stella is selling limited edition ‘chalices’, with $4 from each sale going to water.org. And while $4 equates to a less than an almond flat white in Australia’s coffee economy, in the developing world $4 is enough to provide someone with clean drinking water for 5 years. Let that sink in.
In the developing world, it’s traditionally the women in the family that are in charge of collecting water for their communities, meaning they miss out on education and employment as a result.
“Every day, women and girls spend 200 million hours walking to collect water for their families. That’s 8.3 million days. More than 22,800 years,” says a statement from World Vision. And this is where Matt Damon comes in.
Damon’s part in the campaign, as well as adding obvious star power to the cause, is to encourage men to “buy a lady a drink”.
“What that means is that we want to empower women in these countries to go to school or find employment, because they no longer should spend their days collecting water” Emily Griffiths, brand director at Stella Artois told 9Honey.
As a result of the partnership with Damon, Stella is hoping to provide clean water to 3.5 million people worldwide by 2020, an ambitious but realistic goal according to Damon. As of March this year, the partnership had already impacted 1 million people.
“If just one per cent of you watching this buys one, we can give clean drinking water to 1 million people, for 5 years,” he says before raising his glass.
So in unusual advice from a health publication, head to your nearest Liquorland or Vintage Cellars and pick up a chalice. You can always fill it with a protein shake.
